Hello, everybody, Welcome into the cycle. I'm Ryan Warmley, joined as always by Mike Mayer. We are talking a whole bunch of stuff today on rounding the bass. We're gonna talk a little chase Birds. We're gotsually gonna talk a lot of rookies here as we do a little bit of a second half buy or sell, and you're just warning to everybody there's way too many rookies, so we are not talking about all of them, because otherwise we'd be here for about seven hours, So we're going through that.
We'll be talking some news notes and injuries, some unfortunate ones there for us, particularly for many of my fantasy teams, some unfortunate injury updates. And then I also wanted to take some time to talk a little bit about cal Raley just because he's awesome and I don't think we talk enough about him on the show, and what he's doing so far this year is So that's kind of what we have on the docket here.
Mayor. This is our last.
Show in June. So we are like halfway through the baseball season. How are you feeling at the midway point.
I think we're almost exactly halfway through the baseball season. I think y're close to exactly a couple of teams already at eighty one, and you know a few others will hit it obviously this weekend, and I will just say, I'm willing to do seven hours. If you're willing to do seven hours and talk about all these rookies, we can do it. Production might not be happy, but we can.
Don't tap me with a good time. How are your teams doing?
Here? Kind of halfway point?
You know, I'm not sure how many leagues are in actually, but of the leagues are in that you can recall off the top of your head, how are they performing.
I'm in like nine leagues. I think it's kind of been the same answer for me the last month or so. I'm I'm in a couple of rota leagues where I'm just doing atrocious, and then pretty much all of my head to head leagues I'm doing fairly well. I'm like, I mean, obviously the one keepers slash Dynasty league with you where I took over that one team and I'm kind of like hanging on, like you know, doing pretty well. I'm in another dynasty league where I did not expect
to do that. Well, this year, I thought I would kind of have like a middle of the road team and like be able to like maybe fight my way in the playoffs. And I'm like comfortably in first place. And I don't understand how, because i just keep looking at this roster and I'm like, I shouldn't be this good, but you know, I'll take it. It's kind of the opposite of a lot of the other times when you draft the team and you're like, this team is great
and then it doesn't go well. I'm kind of doing the opposite in that league, so calling them all over the place. But you know, when you're in enough leagues, some are going to be bad. Some we're gonna be good, hopefully, and so I have enough good to keep me happy for a little while.
Yeah, I dialed back my fantasy leagues this year, so I'm only in four. I just felt like that was gonna be better for me to be able to really focus on them.
One of them.
My team is like the best team I've ever had in any fantasy league. I'm like in rode Oh, I'm up by like twenty points over second place. It's like utterly dominant, which is awesome. It's of course for no money.
One of the other weeks I've been we're about to you know, this is the last week of the regular season because of the way we do our schedule here at or and so that's I'm fighting for a playoff spot in that one, the Dynasty League with you My team is very good, definitely a contender, but not the best team in that league, but you know good and you know we'll fight for it.
See how we do in the playoffs.
But then the other one is the one with Dan Harris his league, where I started off in like second or third place for most of the first couple of months, and now I've fallen off and I literally have too many players on IL. Two for my bench and IL spots combined are entirely clear players who are injured to the point where I am starting players on IL in my starting line because I can't drop a lot of these players because they're too good or at least good enough that I want to hold on to them. And
it's just I've completely fallen off. I'm in like, you know, fourth or third from the bottom now because because of injuries in that league.
So that hasn't been very You're done, You're down here, you're done near me.
And yeah, I'm better than you, and Kelly thinks.
You're better than me.
But for now, for now, yeah, now.
All right, let's shove into the first topic here, which is Chase Burns. Like this is a couple of days ago, but I you know, it was very fun watching him in those first couple of innings, such an electric debut that I felt I really did want to hit on him. You are somebody who has Chase Burns in a lot of places. He's also somebody that I recommended everybody pick up last week, like just before they announced he was going to be coming up to make his debut.
So that worked out very well for me.
I've had a lot of bad calls in the waivers recommendation segment, so that was a nice one too to seemingly hit on. And what a debut right strike out the first five batters he faced in his debut against the Yankees like an actually good team. He was the first player in the Expansion era at least to strike out the first five hitters that he.
Faced in his major league career.
He ultimately ended up allowing some more runs after that, but five innings, six hits, no walks, three earned runs, eight strikeouts again against the Yankees.
Just really, really good.
There's a reason he was the top pitching prospect in baseball. A lot of his minor league stats looked like relatively similar to Paul Skeens' minor league stats. Like I'm not saying he is skiings, but this was as a lead of a pitching prospect as you can get outside of like a guy that was being compared to the greatest pitching prospects ever. And if you have him in any kind of heabor format, you should be really excited. And I think you should be excited to have him in
the second half here. There has already been kind of talked about they're going to limit his innings after the All Star break, but I think the ratio numbers and these strikeouts are going to be good enough that even if he doesn't get as many wins because he's not going deep into games and he maybe you know, in a points format, he's not getting this on innings, I think he'll still be very worth having on your team. That's how good he looked. I am buying into the
hype right away. What was going through your mind watching his debut?
Yeah, a lot of the same stuff. You know. It was I was kind of hoping that he would debut against someone without, you know, such a potent offense. But he came out and like did not look afraid, like you said, struck out the first five people, five batters to face, including Aaron Judge, and it was just like
high velocity. He was like, you know, flirting with triple digits, really high, aggressive slider that looked really good and was playing off his fastball, and he also like has a decent curveball they didn't really use, and so I think we can see more of that and kind of like that next iteration from him. The Paul Skeins Canson is interesting for a number of reasons because he's also he's following a very similar trajectory where the Pirates drafted Paul Skeens.
And then a lot of times when you see a player, especially a pitcher drafted, they kind of like let them debut a little bit, like because it's it's kind of a weird time to get drafted in baseball, right, You get drafted in the middle of the season, and so a lot of times players get drafted and they'll like debut that last month and like get their feet wet, whereas the Pirates just kind of like shut Paul Skins down. They're like Melvisie in next year. The Reds did the
same thing with Chase Burns. He did not he was drafted in the first round last year, did not pitch last year, and so it's kind of crazy that he debuted this year in High A and he's you know, it's June and he's already in the big leagues. He just kind of flew through the minor leagues, showed pretty much immediately that he was ready, and then gets to the big leagues and once again looks like he's ready.
And again similar to Paul Skeens, where he you know, we saw his his innings limited, but the innings that you did get were really good, and they kind of stretched him out kind of all the way through the whole season just by kind of limiting his innings here and there. We're probably going to see the same thing from the Reds, who you know, we'll see how they do with the second half.
If he finishes the second half, let's say at seventy five percent of the production that you saw from Paul Skins a year ago, because like, I don't want to say he's going to be Paul Skins in the second half. That's like putting way too much on anybody. But let's say he's like seventy five percent of that. Where do you think you'll be ranking Burns and your starting pitcher rankings going into next season?
Ooh, that's interesting next season. So this season I already moved him up pretty aggressively into.
I was going to ask about this season too, But I'm curious what we think of him when we get to the point where we're not expecting an ings limit.
I mean assuming, Like so you're saying, like seventy five percent of Paul Skians like production.
I'm saying, I'm saying he's very good in the second half, but he's not like, holy cow, this is the new best pitcher in baseball good.
I mean, I think the top of the sp market is also kind of interesting, and it's in flux. There are some questions about some of the pictures at the top, like a Cole Reagan's. I think there's some question marks. Now I don't know that Zach Gowen was in that top tier, but there's a lot of questions about Zach Gowen. Now he does not look very good school. I'm basically taking the long road to saying I think there's a really good chance he's an sp one going in the
next year. No, I don't think. I don't see him overtaking Scooble schemes, Crochet Wheeler, Yamamoto, assuming they all stay healthy, of course. Sure, and then you know there's like that franber Valdez tier Hunter Brown looks really good. He looks like he's going to be a locked in sp one headed in the next year. And then he get into like Logan web Logan, Gilbert Michael King. I feel Jaspern's could give me right there. I think, all.
Right to where is he the rest of the season now for this year, knowing the kind of limited innings, I.
Just ad updated my rankings the other day, so I have him thirty six, which is it's kind of putting into consideration like we're probably going to see some innings limitations, and I you know, I reserved the right to move him up, but you know, I had to move him into like my top forty pretty much immediately.
Last question on Chase Burns, and by the way, I can't remember who it was. I wanted to credit them, but somebody made the comparison to at least those first few innings. We're very similar to Steven Strasburg's debut against the Pirates, you know, fifteen years ago, and I like remember watching that. I actually had tickets to go to that game and ended up not going, which I've told that story on the show before.
Hugely, hugely annoying to me.
Didn't finish the same way that Strasburg's out against the Pirates did, but that start, I think that is actually a pretty similar experience to Holy Cow. Like we knew who this guy was. It's not like an out of nowhere, but like even better than you could have expected for him. Is there anybody I could offer in our Dynasty league to pry Chase Burns from you?
I mean probably, Let's see. So I actually updated my Dynasty rankings the other day and moved him up to SP fourteen, and I feel like that was really aggressive, But I also tried to put myself like, you can't just like move someone to like number one just because they're like a young top pitching prospect. But yeah, I also try to like think realistically in these leagues, like if I have Chase Burns. What is it going to
take to get him from me? And it's gonna take Paul Skins, Schooble, Crochet, Logan, Gilbert Yamamoto like, and here's an interesting what about Spencer Strider? Like, are you down enough on Spencer Striyder that you're willing to flip like in Dynasty Burns given the arm history with Stryder.
Good one.
Actually, I don't know. I don't know how I would answer that one off the top of my head.
I technically still have Strider ahead of Burns, but like, that's how aggressively I moved Burns up.
My initial reaction to that is Stryder I would rather have. But I think I think Burns is good enough that given the arm history with Strider, I'm thinking about it.
So here, this isn't our next segment, so it's not a perfect segue. But I just I flipped over into to my overall rankings, and I have, based on how it grades out, I have him at fifty six overall, which could even be a little bit higher. Number fifty five.
Cal Raley Interesting, Yeah, well, we'll get to cal Raleigh a little bit later.
We've got some rookies coming up before that, and Chase Burns obviously among that group.
But before we even get.
To the rookies, I want to let everybody know we are now giving away a Cecil Fielder signed Tigers jersey courtesy of our friends at Pristine Auction dot com. All you have to do to enter is to subscribe to the Fantasy Pros MLB YouTube channel right now, drop a comment below in any video, and that is it. We will be announcing one lucky winner right here on the channel, so make sure to turn on those notifications so you can know when new videos are up and to claim
your prize. All right, let's do a little second half buy Er Sell Rookie Edition. We simply cannot go through every rookie in baseball because you and I like to talk a little longer about these, and there's just no way that we could make it.
The all of them.
And even we wrote down eighteen names, and then you were telling me that as you were was it watching a game or something the other day or look at something you were like, there was even more names we didn't write down, and just like the list could have gone on and on, there's just a ton of them. In baseball right now, or at least some of them have been up and are currently in the minors. But some of the mentions of the names that we're not going to have time to really dive into on this segment.
Chase Burns, So we obviously just talked about and I think clearly both of us are buying Christian Campbell, Chandler Simpson, who's back in the in the big leagues, Roman Anthony, Jacob Wilson, Dylan Cruz, Brady House, Marcella Meyer, Kobe Mayo, Matt Shaw, Chase Mydraf. I think these are for different
reasons for some of these guys. Some of them are we pretty much know what to expect from a guy like Chandler Simpson when he's in the big leagues is a lot of stolen bases, you know, reasonable average, no power like that. We're already aware of what that is. You know, we're gonna be talking about a guy like
Roman Anthony a little bit later in today's show. You know, some of these like Kobe Mayo, like I think it's easy to sell, so like some of these were like pretty Jacob Wilson the opposite, right, Like we're all pretty much generally buying Jacob Wilson, so kind of speeding through those, but just want to do at least mention them that, like we didn't forget those guys existed, you know, on the rookie side.
Two guys that we.
Do want to talk about, Jack Kaglione and Nick Kurtz. Kind of looping them together with the first base stuff. Kurtz obviously has been on my heater lately. Kaglione had a two home run game to kind of get on the home run board recently. Obviously very talented prospects, guys who went very high in the draft, both top six picks.
Was the top four picks I forget we.
Know Kaglione was six, so Kurtz was four?
Yes?
Four? Okay?
Yeah?
Four or six?
Are these guys players that you were buying our salag specifically for obviously in Dynasty we like all these guys, but specifically for the second half of this season. Well, actually we put it like this, if you had to pick one to buy and one to sell, how would.
You separate them?
That makes it harder because I thought it would.
That's why I changed.
Yeah, are you buying Yes, I'm buying both of them. That makes it harder. I think I would have to buy Kurtz more just because he's done more and he's shown more, and he you know, he's hit eleven home runs in forty two games, and he's you know, like you said, he's heating up Kagali, and I do think is going to get there. He's just gotten up to like he came up a little bit later. He doesn't have as large as a sample size, so he could go on the same kind of heater that Curtsi's on
right now. He also he's batting one eighty six, but he's expected batting average is two ninety two. It's over one hundred points higher. And I think he does have good He doesn't have high strikeout numbers. He does put the bat on the ball, whereas Kurtz is striking out at a high clip. He's at almost thirty two percent strikeout right, So there is some swing and miss in Kurtz's game, whereas Kakalion makes a little bit more contact.
Both have incredibly incredible raw power. I think both have really bright futures, and I think both are going to have strong second halfs, especially because I mean we've talked at nauseum about hitters coming up struggling. They've both come up struggled a little bit, and both are already showing
signs that they're kind of taking that next step. And I think that's the kind of talented hitter that they are, and I think they're going to be fine, and they're going to give a lot of power in second half.
Kurt Kurtz feels like you'd have to pick him between the two, just because he's had more time to adjust to big league pitching and has just simply done more. Like you said, Caglione, if you're picking him, it's a reflection of you're just buying into the talent and trusting that it'll come along. Plus the underlying numbers, like you said, where some of the expected data is better than what we've actually seen some bad luck early on. I mean, he's only had seventy at bats, so still super early.
But yeah, I would.
Agree with you, like I'd rather have Kurts, of course, but I'm willing to buy into both. Are you like giving up anything of value to try and acquire Kagalion or or Kurtz or are you more just like I'm hoping they're already on my rosters and want to take advantage that they are.
Are you actually looking to like buy these.
I would look to buy especially looking like if you need power on a roster. Like a lot of times, it comes down to roster construction, you know, especially in RODO, where it's probably a little bit more of a conversation in points, but in Rodo, if if you are looking at the roto standings and you're lacking in power, these
are two guys you should definitely target. And I didn't write them up as a buy low candidate this week, but I considered buying up Jack writing up Jack Kgaloon as a BILO this week for that reason, and that you could kind of, you know, if I had some surplus pitching or maybe some surplus speed and I needed power, I would definitely go out and buy these guys, because I think you are going to get double digit home runs for sure in the second half of the season.
If not, you know, double digit and then some not triple digit. I'm gonna get triple digit home.
Runs, Yeah, no, you will not.
Another player that I want to talk about who's got some power Christian Moore second Basement for the Angels. Somebody who we have a very small sample size. He's only played thirteen games, forty at bats. He does have three home runs already in those forty at bats. Also a lot of strikeouts. That's part of his game, just two walks. Seventeen strikeouts is the number against two walks, he's only
batting one seventy five. Second base an interesting position if you can get some real power from there, that's intriguing. He had a two home run game earlier this week, so perhaps a sign of, you know, kind of some early adjustments to big league pitching and going to start showing off the power. They were clutch hits too, one to tie the game, one to win it for the Angels, and the Angels, of course have a reputation of, you know,
being very aggressive with their young prospects. So I would imagine like, even if he does struggle, he'll get, you know, a fairly long leash. Probably not worthwhile in a points league where the strikeouts are really going to hurt you, but in a in a rodeo category format, is he somebody that you're buying or selling for some power at second base in the second half, I.
Think there's a lot of swing and missing that profile as evidenced by the strike cut numbers that you mentioned, and that that's whycout number is almost thirty eight percent. Like, there is a lot of swing and missing that profile, and I think the bating average is going to struggle as a result. We're already seeing that he did pretty well in the minors and there is some power there. I am less bullish on him than I am on you know, the two players we just mentioned. Also, maybe
I'm just like misremembering, but we're talking. We're like so far, we're talking about a ton of players that were drafted last year. Like what Like, I think in general, there are a ton of rookies, you know, as evidence of out the names that we have, and so many of them are drafted just last year. I can't recall another year where this many players drafted just last year are already in the in the majors and contributing. Yeah, I think he is someone who's willing to walk so that
that can help him. It's not probably in a point league, it's not going to outweigh those strikeouts for you, so it's not as helpful. But yeah, I think I think it's more likely he's, like you said, he might get a long leash, but I think it's more more likely for him that he's going to go back down and
need some more time. But then again, the Angel probably won't have anything to play for the second half, so unless they play you know, service time games, they should just let him, you know, let him learn at the big leagues.
For what it's worth, his expected adding average is about forty spots forty points higher than his current adding average. It's still quite low still, two fourteen. Yeah, but that's better than one seventy five.
Just just to highlight it.
I think that he is I will not be surprised if he hits at like twenty five to thirty home run pace. The rest of the way really okay, But I don't think he's going to give you anything. I think the average is gonna be low. Like, I don't think he's gonna maybe he gets a couple of steals, but like that's not what you're counting on him for.
Like, I'm not thinking that home runs will be worth it.
But I do think he has power and will get enough chances to I mean, he's at that right now, and forty fats three home runs, you know, spread that out over whole season, but obviously, you know that's coming off of a two home run game.
It was worth noting real quick that he had been buried at the bottom of the lineup. And then yesterday and they moved up to the two hole against a ridy so and he's a ready hitter, so he they are showing some confidence in him, and they moved him all the way up from like the nine to one of the two hole. So we'll see if that sticks too.
Having said what I just said about the power, I would be selling him, I guess, coming off this two home run game, because I think he's going to hurt you in other places. But I'm really interested in him long term actually, so like in a non and some kind of keyboard or dynasty format, I'd be keeping a close eye on him. And then lastly, we wanted to
hit on some of these pictures rookie pitchers. Kind of the four names that we put together, Jacob Mazaraski, Rookie Sasaki, Mick Abel, Chase Dolander obviously have unvaryingly, you know, different things, on different timelines so far this season. You know, Sasaki has been hurt. Doll Lander came up very early, Abel was up, Looks Excellence went down, camp back up. Miserroowski has been like unreal, The stuff is just absurd. So of these four, how would you rank them rest of season?
So I think I would go Miserawski clear number one, just from what we've seen. I mean, we just saw him go toe to toe with Paul Skins and come out looking better than called Paul Skans. You know, not that he's better than Paul Skans, but in that game, you know, Paul Skins had, you know, like it just so happened that Paul Skins had one of his worst starts as a pro, and whereas Miserowski, you know, pitched like a legend. So I think right off the bat,
I would go Miserawski as the clear one. Maybe if even if we're doing this with like tears, I think it's like Miserawski and then like a tear break and then and then we start talking about the rest of
these guys. Rookie Sasaki is an interesting one. And I mentioned to you, you know, as we were like prepping for the show, that we spend a lot of time before the season talking about Sasaki, but we haven't talked about him a lot during the season, and some of that is because of the injury, but it's also just kind of like, I mean, you know, we saw him debut, and you know we saw like the you know, the the speed, the velocity, and but then like the overall
was offer just kind of like, eh, like he had some velocity, he didn't have a lot of like swing and miss, and his spect numbers are all over the place, and I would I feel like we should talk about him first, like what are you thinking about Sasaki and what we've seen so far, just like just like from him in this first half of his first season, because
he's still a young picture too. Despite you know, a lot of these pictures come over from overseas and they're like they're older, not like older, but like they're veterans. He's still twenty three years old.
Yeah, I'm largely disinterested in a redraft format because of the injury stuff, Like the Dodgers don't have any real need to push him. He already wasn't throwing that deep into games the stuff. Like, I am not at all like down on it, and in a long term format, I'd still be very interested in him. But in if I'm looking at the just second half, and I need pitching. He is not somebody I'm like trying to buy low on.
I'm letting him be someone else's. Like I don't want to say headache, but like if you're not going deep enough into games, which even when he's back, like, I don't expect that. I think that's just too much of a I don't think his stuff is good enough to overcome that.
Not yeah, probably not yet. They also the other complicating factor here is the injury. Because he already has a shoulder injury. We haven't seen him since.
Well, yeah, and that plays into like the expected lack of innings.
Yeah, we haven't seen him since the second week of May. And the last time he was actually like ramping up his shoulder his drowing program, he shut it right back down because he was feeling discomforted in the shoulders. So and that was already six weeks removed from the injury. So you don't like to see that, and you know he's already out through the All Star break. Who knows when we see him after that, And then, like you said,
there's probably gonna be some innings limitations there. They could even move him to the bullpen, depending on how healthy they get. You know, we always joke on the show and how many arms they have, and then how many arms they have on the il. But you know, there's a realistic possibility that they just make him like a two or three inning bulk reliever heading into the playoffs if if they want to kind of limit his innings.
So I think, almost by default, while I don't when I wouldn't rank him dead last in like pure stuff, I would make Miserawski probably the clear number one, in Sasaki probably the clear four. And then from you rather.
Have Dolander than Sasaki. I think I have Able ahead of Sasaki, but yeah, dolanderies. Yeah, Dollander is the weird one because of the Rockies. I mean, he has a he if you're just looking at like pure stuff, he might have better stuff than Sasaki. I don't know that he's a better pitcher already, we've already seen him come up and struggle to an Era over six.
Yeah, that's a good point. I think it's Miserawski and Able, and then.
Yeah, Sasaki than Dolander.
It's yeah, it's you're probably better. While I'm not like that optimistic about Sasaki, You're probably better off rolling the dice on Sasaki than you are Dolander, just because of the Dodgers connection, and you know we've already seen Dollander struggle more so than Sasaki.
Yeah, all right, let's go to our news notes and injuries. A tough one at the top. Max Meyer hip surgery on his laborum. Out for the season. Just the bummer. I mean, I was very excited about him in spring training. He looked like he was proving me right in April, and then it's kind of started to fall off, and then he went on the il and now, after getting a couple of opinions, is out for the year. So that sucks how much else around it? What are your
expectations for him going into next season? Are you going to be aggressively trying to draft him next year or kind of out after how this year ended.
I don't think I'll be out because I am really really intrigued by him, and I think based on how this year is gone, that the price is going to be low enough that I'll be interested. It'll depend on the price, though, and if you know, if a lot of people are kind of like buying in, like you know, if he has a really good spring training, and the price really starts to rise, then I'll probably be out.
I'm not really gonna want to take that risk, but if the if the price is low enough, I'll be in on him for sure.
Gorviyn Carroll to the eye l with a wrist fracture, obviously something to keep a very close eye on, given how important he is to fantasy managers. We got a bunch of other ones here that you added to the list, so I'll let you run through these.
Sure, the Sean and I are shut down from throwing with a loose body in his elbow. And the weird thing about this update is they said he was only kind of you know, he already hasn't pitched this year, and then they said there was a loose body in his elbow and they're only shutting him down for a couple of days. That seems like a much bigger deal than getting shut down for a couple of days, and like resuming your throwing program like that feels like a big deal. So I've been stashing Sea and I in
a couple of places. I was getting excited because he was working his way back, probably getting ready to getting ready to make other moves. If I find he really knew that roster spot even though he was working his way back. This this loose body, you know, this loose body and his elbow is not something I'm interested in. Zach Neto injured shoulder on a side the other day, but his MRI I did come back negative. You don't
like that. It's the same shoulder that he already dealt with an injury with and he kind of like injured his shoulder and then like stayed in the game and then had to come out, and then now he had to go for an MRI. So like he was having, you know, a really fun season I'm in. We talked about the one league I'm in where I just get
like trade offers every day I get. I got was getting zach Netto trade offers every day, and I was like, I was, look good, I'm not looking to trade him, Like I'm very happy with the production I'm getting, you know, getting a power speed as like you know, my short stop slash middle infielder, like not looking to move him.
But I was legit getting offers every day. And then I did think it was funny that someone had like offered me a trade and then like the injury happened and they quickly were withdrew it, and I'm like, I'm never going to be the guy to like accept a tray when a guy get hurts, But like, you know, I do get why they would like withdraw that that that offer, but like I'm never going to be that
guy to accept the trade anyway. Jordan al Alvarez finally began hitting in a cage, so hopefully they don't rediscover any you know, hand fractures that they didn't do x rays for this time around, and he actually gets back on the field soon. Austin Hayes begins to rehabit. Sign just began a rehab assignment, and he's when he can stay on the field. He's been having a really good year, he just like can't seem to stay on the field.
So he's someone that if he's out there in your league, I would go in and pick him up, just because when he's been out there, he's been really productive and I assume that's going to continue as long as he can just stay healthy. Your boy Hunter Green to throw a bullpen next week and so he could potentially be coming back soon, joining their res rotation with Chase Burns. And with Andrew Rabbit and with Nickolodolo, and I posed this
on Twitter the other day. Not only could the Reservo be really good the second half of the season, they could be set up for a pretty long run of success here with this rotation kind of like going forward, Like if they can keep all these guys and keep them all healthy, which is you know, two very big Yeah.
I was gonna say, like, how many times have we said, oh, imagine this young pitching altogether over the years on it for any team an organization, and how often does it actually pan out?
Yeah? Because they also his name is escaping me right now, but I posted on Twitter, but they have another top pitching prospect who he's hurt right now, but his name is escaping me, Red Louder. That's who it is, Red Louder. But he's another top prospect in the organization who even if he slots in is like the third, fourth or fifth pitcher. That could be a really good rotation. But you know, it's we'll see. You know, the Reds have been known to trade players, and you know, players who
throw that hard have been known to get injured. So it'll be really exciting if they can keep their rotation together, but you know, we shall see. Shane McClanahan resumes throwing off a mound as he continues to work back from that looked like a devastating arm injury turned out to be a nerve injury. Still don't really know what's going on there, but it looks like he could be coming back in the near future unless he has step backs, which is not you know, out of the realm of possibility,
giving like the strained injury he's dealing with. And then we got an update that Alex Bragman is unlikely to return before the All Star break, which is a bummer because there were some whispers that he was like getting ready, but now it seems like, you know, at least two more weeks, we're not gonna have Alex Bragman at a very shallow third base position. In Fantasy.
I mentioned that really injured team I have in Dan Harris's league netto Jordan Hunter, Green, McClanahan, Bragman all on that team.
Then that's only like half the injuries I have.
So and you very famously drafted chain of Kinahan like sixty seconds before that injury happened in real time. Then we kind of shared the video around the room because it was a rare in person draft.
Famously, Yeah, that was a real dagger moment for me and my first ever draft in this league. But yeah, so they have it news notes and injuries. And then lastly, I labeled this segment cal Rally is a maze balls because the dude is just insane. As of when I was putting together this yesterday. I don't know if there was what he did yesterday, but thirty two home runs on pace for sixty six this season, which is insane enough,
let alone as a catcher. Also nine stolen bases, just to you know, add that on top of everything else he's doing two eighty one, three eighty six, sixty sixty seven slash line.
People don't need me to tell them cal Rally is awesome.
But we've only really talked about him once as like, is it worth selling high on him? I feel like we're past that, and it's more like we should just be like kind of taking a step back to really appreciate, like what this first half has been for him. Would he be a first rounder if we were drafting today for the rest of the season. And then I also as a secondary question, I wanted to ask you, do
you think he can overtake are Judge Rail MVP? I haven't looked at the odds recently, but you know, obviously Judge has been kind of the overwhelming favorite favorite of the whole year.
It feels like what Cal's doing as a.
Catcher, maybe he should be more in that conversation or even like arguably ahead of Judge. But yeah, Carraley's been awesome leading baseball and home runs. Obviously, would he be a first rounder if we drafted today?
I think you would have to be because if you look at like the you know, the VBR and the stats on Fanny Spurs, if I just if I switched to that page and let it load, he is the third most valuable player in Fantasy so far. It's Judge Otanian than cal Raley, and then of course Pete Kromstrong, who just won't go away. But I mean, just based
on production loan, he would have to be. And the other thing is, if I wanted to kind of bring this up to you, if I told you before the season that cal Raley would hit thirty two home runs and back to seventy seven is steal nine bases, you would be like, hey, that's a pretty good season from cal Rally.
I would say that's a great Yeah, we're halfway through.
We're halfway through, and that's like those are like really good final numbers. And by comparison, last year he had thirty four home runs and stole six paces. Granted you know the RBIs and run scored, although the run scored seventy three last year fifty eight this year, he's already
getting close to those. Any bad two sety seven after bat two twenty last year, like that would be you'd be like fantastic, Like what a great draft pick Kyle Rally and lo and behold, we are literally halfway through the season.
Let's say he falls off a bit, but it's still really good in the second half. So let's say he finishes with fifty home runs, fifteen stolen bases, and a two sixty average. Is he a first round or next year?
I think he's in the conversation just because of the position, because there are going to be people who who say, man, if I can lock up that kind of production from my catcher spot and not have to worry about catcher, the rest of the draft, people are definitely gonna take him in the first round. And also not to get away from fantasy, but like for the MVP conversation, he's also a pretty good defensive catcher. Like he's not just
a schlub bank there either. And with I didn't see the odds, but like Iron, Judge has come not like come back down to earth because he's still ridiculous, but he's not hitting four hundred anymore. And he kind of went through like a mini slump there. So I think there's a world where he he you know, he enters that MVP conversation.
Three days ago, it was.
Judge this on ESPN Judge minus two thousand cal Rawley plus six point fifty and the next closest to Jose Ramirez it's seventy five to one. Jeez, but yeah, Judge minus two thousand, cal Ralei plus six fifty. I would bet on cal rale at those odds. I don't know what it is elsewhere. I don't have them all up in front of me right now. But and again that was a few days ago. That feels not accurate to
where you would see it in most books. Would be my guests, I don't know if you're pulling it up and seeing it somewhere I am.
I was just looking at I'm waiting for it to load now, but I saw what did you say you saw Judge.
At minus two thousand three days ago on ESPN bet That feels wrong.
Yeah, So on betting pros, the best odds you're going to get for Aaron Judge right now are minus nine hundred and the so the best odds you're going to get for cal Raley or plus five hundred. But at bet MGM, he's already down to plus three seventy five.
That seems more reasonable, and like I would still like that bet truthfully. I mean again, if if you have a catcher who hits, he's not gonna hit sixty home runs, but like if he if he gets to like fifty, which.
Is he's only eighteen away from yeah, and you throw.
In fifteen seals and is a good defensive catcher, Like that's really hard and plus is just different from the guy who already has one MVPs in aeron Judge.
So right, you never want to like, you never want to like consider that, but it's all it's also sometimes like you know, if it gets really close to the voters are gonna be like well, we're kind of It's what we.
Just saw in football last year, Lamar Jackson was very clearly had a better season than Alan, but Alan hadn't won and Lamar had two, so Alan won the vote even though Lamar won First Team All Pro.
It could be the same thing.
Here where it's like, yeah, Judge's numbers are like maybe better, but both were amazing, and Cal doesn't, like how cool would it be to give a Seattle catcher MVP over you know, this gigantic figure in baseball in New York. I mean I think that would at least play in voters' minds.
So yeah, and I'm just looking at Judge's numbers. He was batting four hundred for a long time, which is ridiculous. He's now down to three sixty one, still incredible, twenty at home round six Dollen bases. You know, obviously all all the good counting stats, but the numbers aren't that ridiculous anymore that it's like out of the question that someone else could be MVP, whereas like three weeks ago.
Us, Yeah, I mean Cal Rawley needs to be amazed balls for this to be a thing, right, Like it's it's it's not like he's locked up, you know, being making this a two man race. If cal falls off, then Judge could run away with it. But as of right now, like I see every reason to say that those odds at least are the wider gap than they should be.
Speaking of Amaze Balls, have you at least seen the movie Spaceballs? Or is that just another movie you've never seen?
I have.
I don't remember it.
I mean, like I remember some bits from it, but I only saw it like once, many years ago. But I have seen that one. I like the Uh well, actually I don't.
Know if I should.
I was gonna do a bit where they say a word that I don't know if I can say on this show or not.
Uh the I knew it.
I'm surrounded by h I don't know if that's acceptable or not. But it's a very funny scene, and it's it's a generally very funny movie.
So yes, I have seen that one and I like it. Is that like one of your favorites?
No, okay, classic comedy, so I figured you haven't seen it because you don't see any movies ever.
I've seen a lot of classic comedies I've seen. Airplane Naked Gun is one of my favorite comedies. I like, you know, Dumb and Dumber, Blazing Saddles, going way back, very classic comedy, so I like some good ones.
Yeah, there like that parody you know, when they were doing all these parody movies.
I will probably see the Liam Neeson Naked Gun sequel that they're coming out with soon. And I don't typically like just rehashing old stuff, but I really like the original Naked Gun. It's what it might be my favorite comedy of all time, so I'll probably it's really good. It's that movie's hilarious. All right, We'll go ahead and
wrap up there for a rounding the bases. Be sure to keep an eye out for our trade show and waivers coming out later this weekend, and also, of course, are pitching streamers and to start picture competition for Mayor.
I'm Ryan all Me. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you again next time.
Thanks for listening to the Fantasy Pros Fantasy Baseball podcast. If you love the show, the best freeway to support us is by leaving a positive review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, follow us on x, Instagram, and TikTok at Fantasy Pros, and subscribe to our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com. Slash Fantasy Pros MLB